“The results of the trauma we’ve got skilled over the previous couple of years continues to be a every day problem, however this effort to seek out solutions and search some justice has helped us transfer one step nearer to therapeutic.”
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The Ottawa Police Service has settled a lawsuit launched by the household of Gregory Ritchie, a 30-year-old Indigenous man whose capturing dying by two officers in 2019 additional infected tensions between police and town’s marginalized communities.
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Ritchie’s household, his brother Nick and sister-in-law Chantel, known as for Ritchie’s dying to be a “catalyst for change” in an announcement launched Thursday by way of their attorneys, Lawrence Greenspon and Ewan Lyttle.
The wrongful dying lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed quantity earlier this month, the assertion stated.
Ritchie, who was coping with psychological well being points, was struck twice with a stun gun after which fatally shot by constables Thanh Tran and Daniel Vincelette within the parking zone of Elmvale Acres Buying Centre on Jan. 31, 2019.
“The results of the trauma we’ve got skilled over the previous couple of years continues to be a every day problem, however this effort to seek out solutions and search some justice has helped us transfer one step nearer to therapeutic,” Ritchie’s household stated within the assertion.
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“Our hope is that as we proceed to heal we will proceed to share Gregory’s story and it may be a catalyst for change. The dearth of cultural and psychological empathy and coaching amongst some regulation enforcement is a hazard to each officers and the group at massive.
“Our need is to see these in authority be capable of construct and earn our belief of their potential to work with our communities in a extra peaceable method the place the outcome doesn’t finish in tragedy and violence.”
The officers weren’t charged in Ritchie’s dying following a year-long investigation by Ontario’s Particular Investigations Unit.
In response to the SIU investigation, Ritchie was reported to police shortly earlier than 8 a.m. by OC Transpo particular constables who stated they noticed a person holding a knife in his jacket close to the shopping center.
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“Though 911 had been suggested that Mr. Ritchie was carrying a knife, no knife was ever positioned,” the Greenspon Granger Hill regulation agency stated in an announcement Thursday. “Mr. Ritchie, the truth is, held a standard artifact, a stone connected to a stick.”
The SIU report stated the 2 responding constables tried to resolve the “confrontation” with Ritchie, who, the officers claimed, was “threatening” the officers with the thing, described within the report as a “stone axe.”
Ritchie was struck by two pictures from the officers’ Performed Vitality Weapon (or Taser), which “did not immobilize” him, the SIU concluded in February 2020.
The 2 officers fired 11 pictures when, in accordance with the SIU, Ritchie “superior threateningly towards the officer with the thing in hand.”
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Ritchie was struck by three of the pictures. He died in hospital.
The complete incident — from the time the officers have been dispatched to the second Ritchie was fatally shot — spanned 5 minutes.
SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his determination that he was “unable to fairly conclude that both topic officer acted unlawfully once they discharged their firearms at (Ritchie). They did so, for my part, beneath the affordable apprehension that it was crucial to guard (the officer) from grievous bodily hurt or dying…”
The influence of Ritchie’s dying on his household “reinforces the necessity for change,” Tina Hill stated in a joint assertion from the attorneys representing the household.
“Regardless of the Psychological Well being Response Technique that the Ottawa police launched in January 2021, there was no concrete motion taken within the greater than two years since to handle the continued challenges of the mentally unwell and their interactions with the police. Actual change has to occur,” Greenspon stated.
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Lyttle stated Ritchie’s dying “underscores the urgency with which the police should take significant steps to enhance their schooling, coaching, interactions and understanding because it pertains to coping with Indigenous folks.”
Ottawa Police Providers Board chair Suzanne Valiquet stated in an announcement Thursday that Ritchie’s dying was “very tragic and our hearts exit to his household and family members.”
Valiquet stated the OPSB “stays supportive of any coaching for the members of the OPS that higher equips them to serve the group” and pointed to current funds investments aimed toward making “significant progress on fairness, range, and inclusion, in addition to enhancing their interactions with Indigenous folks.”
Valiquet stated the OPS was persevering with to work on enhancements to requires service requiring social and psychological well being response, together with a “name referral initiative to judge and outline the forms of calls that may be referred and establish group partnerships.”
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